Iran says it is activating new centrifuges after being condemned by UN nuclear watchdog

(CNN) — Iran announced Friday it was activating new advanced centrifuges – which enrich uranium for the country’s nuclear program – after the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog criticized the country for not cooperating with the agency.

Iran will activate “a noticeable number of new and advanced centrifuges of different types,” state news agency IRNA reported, citing a joint statement from Iran’s foreign ministry and its Atomic Energy Organization.

“The steps are being taken to protect the country’s interests and further develop the peaceful nuclear energy,” in line with national needs and within Iran’s rights, the statement said according to IRNA.

Injecting gas into centrifuges is part of the process to enrich uranium, which could ultimately be used to develop a nuclear weapon, though Iran has repeatedly denied it has any ambitions of building a bomb.

The move was in response to the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), whose board passed a resolution Thursday ordering Iran to urgently improve its cooperation with the agency. In a statement, the IAEA said it reiterated calls “upon Iran to fully cooperate with the Agency and decided that it is essential and urgent in order to ensure verification of the non-diversion of nuclear material that Iran act to fulfil its legal obligations.”

The resolution also requires the IAEA “to produce a comprehensive and updated assessment on the possible presence or use of undeclared nuclear material in connection with past and present outstanding issues regarding Iran’s nuclear programme,” the statement said.

The IAEA and Iran have long tussled over various issues, including traces of uranium found at locations that have not been declared nuclear sites.

On Thursday, the IAEA board also asked the agency to compile an assessment of whether Iran had possible undeclared nuclear material, and of its cooperation with the organization.

Iran decried the resolution, claiming in the joint statement that it was politically motivated, IRNA reported. The statement added that Iran would continue its technical and safeguards cooperation with the IAEA as previously agreed.

In a statement Thursday, Iran’s foreign ministry claimed the resolution was made “under pressure and insistence from three European countries and the US,” and warned it could trigger “an appropriate response from Iran.”

Iran maintains its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. But IAEA chief Rafael Mariano Grossi has previously warned that Tehran has enough uranium enriched to near-weapons-grade levels to make “several” nuclear bombs if it chose to do so.

He has acknowledged the UN agency cannot guarantee that none of Iran’s centrifuges may have been peeled away for clandestine enrichment.

Israel Defense Minister Gideon Sa’ar also praised the IAEA’s resolution, writing on X that “Iran’s nuclear race must be stopped.” The resolution “is a significant part of the diplomatic effort to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons,” Sa’ar wrote.

Under the terms of the nuclear deal struck in 2015, Iran was limited to operating around 5,000 older-model centrifuges, and the nation was allowed to use advance centrifuges for research purposes only.

But Tehran gradually scaled back its commitments to the nuclear deal after then-President Donald Trump withdrew from the pact in 2018 and reimposed economic sanctions on Iran, which crippled its economy. By 2019, Iran was launching new centrifuges in a major break from the deal.

Earlier this year, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Iran’s breakout time – the amount of time needed to produce enough weapons grade material for a nuclear weapon – “is now probably one or two weeks,” the shortest breakout time that US officials have ever referenced.

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